I told you so
by tounpathedwaters
Summary: When New Directions win Regionals, Rachel really wants to celebrate with Jesse. But when he doesn't show up, Rachel finds distraction in someone else...


- I told you so -

"Jesse, this is the last time I'm calling you. By the time you'll get this message, I'll probably be dead already. I can't believe you're not coming. Bye," Berry said into her phone and slammed it shut. This wasn't happening. This was definitely not happening.

She was standing in the corner of a very crowded room. Everywhere she looked she could see people she knew. Which was quite logical since this was a party for her glee club. She saw Quinn and Mercedes standing near her, talking. Rachel didn't want to interrupt. She was waiting for Jesse – her boyfriend. Well, at least she thought he was. He hadn't arrived yet. The two teens had planned meeting one and a half hour earlier. But he wasn't coming. She knew. She knew from the moment he was ten minutes late. Jesse had never been late before. Rachel sighed.

"Rachel? Are you all right?" Rachel jumped a little as she felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She turned around a little. Of course it wasn't Jesse – but Mr. Schuester, their glee coach. "Yeah", she replied and forced herself to smile. Mr. Schuester was holding a bottle of beer in one hand and looking at her as if she'd been crying. Although she felt like crying, she wasn't. Yet.

Mr. Schuester nodded and let go of her shoulder. "I'm fine, Mr. Schue," Rachel added and forced herself to smile even wider. The teacher looked suspicious for a few seconds longer but seemed to make up his mind and smiled back. "Great. Well, enjoy the party! You guys deserve it!" Then he turned around, walked away and talked to someone else. Of course he was talking to Finn now. The conversation seemed too private for Rachel to interrupt, although she really wanted to talk to Finn right now. Of course, she could have always walked in the two men's conversation but Rachel was sure that neither of them would be happy about that. Especially not when she remembered what she wanted to talk about.

Rachel sighed again and walked to the buffet. She got herself some punch and drank some of it. Mr. Schuester was right. She really should enjoy the party. They had won Regionals only a few hours earlier. Of course that was the reason why Jesse wasn't coming. Jesse had lost – Rachel had won. But Rachel felt like she was the one that had lost something. She wasn't sure if she had the right to be mad at Jesse at all. She didn't know if she would have been able to go to Vocal Adrenaline's winner-party. Probably not.

Without knowing why she did it Rachel walked across the crowded room and sat down on a couch that was pushed against the wall. She was seated next to one of the other glee kids: Noah Puckerman. "Hey", Rachel said and smiled at her friend.

"Hey", Puck replied. He was drinking beer from a bottle that he was holding in his hand. Rachel was a little bit surprised that he drank alcohol when the room was filled with teachers, parents, as well as students. Rachel's eyes wandered to one corner of the room where Mr. Schuester was still talking to Finn. Finn was drinking beer, too. The teacher seemed to ignore the fact that he was underage which was probably caused by the excitement of New Directions winning Regional's.

"Is everything okay?" Puck interrupted her thoughts and Rachel's eyes locked on his. Rachel was about to tell Puck that everything was fine just as she had done with Mr. Schuester earlier. But did she really want to? Puck wasn't her teacher. He was her friend. She liked Puck, he really was great. He had defended her when those Vocal Adrenaline kids humiliated her in front of everybody. She shuddered at the memory, feeling a stab of sorrow as she thought of those poor baby chickens. On the other hand Puck hadn't talked to her since she told him that she was giving Jesse another chance. He seemed to be kind of angry about it.

Then again – she really had to talk about it. If she didn't, she was probably going to explode a few hours later; and she really didn't want to ruin the party for everybody else. The other kids seemed to be having fun. Rachel could hear Kurt laugh and when she looked in his direction she could see him joking around with Quinn. The two of them seemed so happy. No, she clearly was the only one who was having a bad time. Maybe she would feel better if she just told Puck the truth.

"No", Rachel sighed and looked Puck in the eyes. He seemed concerned and he raised his eyebrows, questioning. "It's Jesse. We wanted to meet here but he didn't come. I suppose this is the very end of our very short but very intense and dramatic relationship. And this party sucks." Rachel buried her face in her hands. She wasn't allowed to cry. Not here, not now, and certainly not while Noah Puckerman was sitting next to her. She knew what he was going to say,_ "I told you so"_ and he was right. She should have known that her relationship with Jesse didn't have a future the moment he humiliated her with an egg.

But instead of saying those words, Rachel felt herself being hugged by Puck. She lowered her hands from her eyes and hugged him back. And this was the moment Rachel wasn't able to hold her tears back any longer. She cried silently into Puck's shirt.

Puck didn't move at all. When she stopped crying he pushed her a little bit away from himself to be able to look at her face.

"Finished?" he asked and smiled a little. Rachel had to laugh, too. After all this was Noah Puckerman. He was the 'Badass'. He didn't show any feelings while Rachel was sure that he had some. Puck seemed to notice that he was able to make her laugh and obviously he preferred laughing over crying.

"Damn, I think Finn's really hitting on Mr. Schue right now," Puck said and looked in the direction where the two men were still standing. Rachel had to laugh really hard.

"Noah, you really shouldn't be implying such conduct between Mr. Shue and a student," Rachel admonished him but her lips twitched betraying her. Puck grinned but he didn't look at her. She used the opportunity to wipe away the tears which were left on her face with her hand. "He might get lucky tonight", Puck added. Rachel had to laugh again.

"Sure", she said between laughing and straightened her skirt.

Puck turned around his head to look at her. He smiled. "You know, I have to say it, and now you're laughing I don't feel bad about it anymore", Puck said in his very typical voice. Rachel looked confused.

"Go on then", she replied, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Ready?" he asked and she nodded. Puck sighed, "All right, here we go: I told you so!" he said, looking very serious. Rachel had to laugh again. That was so Puck!

She liked that about him. At least he was honest about nearly everything. Though he didn't talk about his own personal feelings this much he always seemed to say what he was thinking. Rachel did appreciate this. She wished that Jesse had been the same. She wouldn't feel so bad right now if Jesse had been honest with her right from the start. Though - she was sure that he had liked her a lot. The problem was that she wasn't sure about when he had stopped feeling that way. Puck was different. That was why the two of them got along so very well.

"I know", Rachel whispered and looked down at her hands. She felt a little bit embarrassed right now. Suddenly Puck took her hands in his and Rachel looked up again. Puck drank the last bit of his beer and dropped the bottle to the ground before he raised his other hand and placed it on Rachel's cheek. He was so close now. Rachel could smell the alcohol in his breath. "The next time I see him, I'm going to punch him", Puck said, looking and sounding very serious. Then he smiled. Rachel smiled back.

And like it would happen in one of the musical theatre shows Rachel liked so much, Puck's face was coming even closer. Rachel thought about it. They had been here before. She had made out with Puck before. Consequently, just like the other time, her making out with him right now would be because another guy wasn't into her like she was into him. She was abusing him but after all, he had made this first move. He had also used Mercedes, so he might not hate her if she used him a little bit herself.

Rachel decided to go for it and leaned into the kiss. Puck's lips weren't as soft as Jesse's and he tasted like beer. Nevertheless this kiss was incredible. Rachel felt like electricity was running from Puck and straight into her. It soon got more intense and Rachel found herself sitting on Puck's lap. She forgot that the two of them were still in a very crowded room and simply went for it. _Went_ for Puck. It felt so good!

He wanted her. She was able to feel it, since she was sitting on top of him. She didn't use him for something if he really wanted it. But secretly, she knew that she wanted this too. Puck ran his fingers through her hair and Rachel smiled as he pulled her head closer. A second later his hand was on her waist, pulling her body closer as well.

Finally, Rachel broke the kiss. She was breathing heavily and her lips were a little bit swollen. She looked at Puck for a second who seemed to be confused because she broke the kiss so abruptly. He opened his mouth to say something but Rachel leaned down again, closing his mouth with her own. This second kiss was even more intense – if that was possible. Puck's hand was under Rachel's very short skirt now. Rachel didn't care. All she wanted right now was Puck. All she wanted right now was being wanted like that.

This time it was Puck who broke the kiss. "Maybe we should go somewhere else?" he whispered and his eyes wandered across the room. Rachel looked around as well. Nearly everybody was staring at her. Rachel blushed immediately. She saw Finn staring at her and Puck. Saw Mr. Schuester standing next to him, whispering something. She saw Quinn's questioning look and Santana's anger.

She looked back at Puck. She really didn't want this to end. This had felt very good and more like celebrating their victory at Regional's than this whole party had done. She wanted to celebrate this way. "Yeah, maybe", she said and managed to stand up. She offered one hand to Puck who took it and stood up as well.

Rachel's eyes wandered around in the room one last time before she turned around and led Puck out of it. Away from those stares.

When they were standing on the street in front of the building in which the party was still going on, Rachel turned around to look at Puck, who was walking right behind her. There was silence for a few minutes. They were just standing there, looking at each other and holding hands. "The party really did suck," Puck finally said and smiled a little.

"Yeah, I told you so", Rachel replied, returning the smile and pulling Puck's hand down with her free hand to kiss him again.


End file.
